


Impossible Dreams

by rujoma



Category: Wheel of Time - Robert Jordan
Genre: Friendship, Gen, Male Friendship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-11
Updated: 2020-12-11
Packaged: 2021-03-11 03:02:14
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,440
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28018167
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rujoma/pseuds/rujoma
Summary: Rand, Mat, and Perrin set out on an adventure towards the Misty Mountains.  Set before the events of the main series.
Relationships: Perrin Aybara & Mat Cauthon, Rand al'Thor & Mat Cauthon, Rand al'Thor & Perrin Aybara
Comments: 4
Kudos: 8
Collections: Yuletide 2020





	Impossible Dreams

**Author's Note:**

  * For [reighchama](https://archiveofourown.org/users/reighchama/gifts).



Rand had begun his daily chores in the dim grey light of predawn, but the sun was now a full hand above the horizon. He was finally done, but Perrin and Mat would be here soon, so he didn’t have much time to eat. He wiped the sweat from his face with his shirt and headed for the house where Tam would have breakfast ready – probably last night’s stew again.

The three of them were setting out toward the West Wood this morning, planning to spend a couple days on a grand adventure, as Mat put it. They would be going further from Emond’s Field than they had ever been before. West along the Quarry Road through the Wood and the Sand Hills, and into the Mountains of Mist for the first time.

As he opened the door into the house the warm smell of mutton stew made his stomach growl loudly. After cramming his chores in earlier in the morning than usual he was now officially starving. He inhaled deeply through his nose, savouring the anticipation, and hurried inside.

He stopped abruptly when he noticed his two friends sitting at the table with Tam making polite conversation. Perrin smiled and waved as he entered. Mat’s face lit up and he shot up out of his chair when he noticed Rand.

“You’re here, finally! Let’s get going!”

Rand gaped and stuttered a bit, torn between his excitement to leave and his hollow gut.

“Wh- what? I haven’t even had time to eat! When did you get here?”

“Ugh – well hurry then. We were supposed to get an early start,” Mat grumbled, ignoring the question.

Mat sat back down, and it was then that Rand noticed the empty – but clearly used – bowl in front of him. Rand raised an eyebrow and looked quizzically between the bowl and his friend. Mat crossed his arms and stared back defiantly. Perrin at least had the modesty to look sheepish while he went back to eating his own.

“Light…” Rand sighed as he sat and started on his own portion.

Mat grabbed a second bowl when Tam offered, and the four of them sat in a companionable silence, more interested in breaking fast than conversation.

Tam broke the silence once he was finished.

“So, Rand tells me you three are planning on heading into the mountains.”

Mat and Perrin both looked startled and shot looks at Rand. Evidently, they hadn’t told their own folks.

“Uh, I don’t… I mean we were just going to go to the Sand Hills, but then…” Mat trailed off.

“It’s fine,” Rand said, “I told him our plans, he’s fine with it.”

Tam grinned while Mat flushed and stared at the table.

“Most from the village would say that going to the Mountains of Mist is ill-advised. Bad luck they call it. I don’t care much for omens and luck, though, and I know you boys can handle yourselves in the wild. Just be careful.”

Mat gawked at Tam, finally managing to force out a coherent sentence.

“I, well, thank you Master al’Thor. I’d, uh, I’d appreciate it if you didn’t tell my folks. I think my Ma’d kill me if she found out.”

“I’ll bet she would at that,” Tam chuckled. “If I run into her between now and when you’re back I’ll be sure to have no idea. Just see that you boys aren’t gone too long, or she may get suspicious.”

“When is she _not_ suspicious,” Mat muttered, mostly to himself.

The rest of the conversation while they finished eating was mostly light small talk. The Wisdom was predicting a mild winter and a good harvest in the coming year. The last merchants of the season were due that week. The Council and the Circle were butting heads as usual.

Mat rose again as Rand was spooning the last bite of stew into his mouth, eager to be gone. Still chewing, but also eager to be on the way, Rand helped Tam clear the table. When that was done, the three boys grabbed their packs and made ready to leave. Rand double checked the pack he had prepared the night before: a warm cloak, change of clothes, extra bow string, and some dried meat. They expected to hunt on the way, so they wouldn’t need to carry much in the way of supplies.

Finally, before leaving they helped Tam load the cart with the cider and wool he was taking into the village that morning. Mat tried to contain a sour expression at having more work to do before leaving; he didn’t complain though, and they were soon done. After Bela was hitched to the cart, Tam was away and heading east along the Quarry Road toward Emond’s Field. Rand waved him goodbye, and the three boys turned west along the same road, setting out for the Mountains of Mist.

They set a quick pace early on, eager to cover as much ground as possible. By the early afternoon they were already deep into the West Wood. The fiery red and orange foliage around them, along with the crisp, clear blue sky, made the mountains in the distance seem grim in comparison.

The peaks were often obscured by a soft haze, giving the mountains their poetic name. Today, however, the peaks stood in stark contrast against the sky. The harsh angles and wide flat features were unique to the Mountains of Mist – a result of their sudden and violent creation during the Breaking. Rand supposed that their ignominious origins were the reason for their reputation. He shuddered inwardly as he imagined the sheer power wielded by the maddened male Channelers who had wrenched them from the ground.

“– Egwene, probably.” Mat quipped, looking sidelong at Rand.

Rand blinked, looking between his two companions.

“Sorry? What?”

“Light, Rand! Welcome back!” Mat laughed. “We thought we had lost you to your daydreams.”

“I, uh – sorry I was just woolgathering.”

Perrin spoke up, “We were talking about the last time we came this far, and that huge skeleton.”

Their last adventure had taken them only just beyond the Sand Hills. They had hitched a ride with a wagon heading into one of the small mining towns in the mountains. The driver had told them of a strange skeleton discovered recently and gave them vague directions as to where it was supposed to be.

With their curiosity piqued, they had spent nearly 3 days scouring the hills before finally stumbling upon it. It was everything they could have expected and more: some enormous aquatic creature that could only have existed before the Breaking, when the entire area was still under water. From nose to tail the thing must have been longer than the Winespring Inn was wide. They had never seen anything like it before or since; they were indeed convinced that they never would again. It had instilled in them a desire to push even further out the next time.

Rand nodded enthusiastically, “That was incredible. They must find stuff like that all the time in the mines in the mountains.”

“Do you think so?” Perrin sounded sceptical. “I feel like the one we saw wouldn’t have been such a big deal if it wasn’t rare.”

“Only a big deal to us Two Rivers folk,” Rand corrected. “When no one you know has even left your village, things must seem bigger than they are.”

Mat shook his head, “Light, I can’t imagine anything that makes that bloody thing look commonplace.”

“One day, maybe we’ll see.”

The talk of adventures past and present continued as they journeyed. Their pace matched their eagerness, and they covered lots of ground over the course of the afternoon, not even stopping while they ate. While they walked, they ate the dried mutton Rand had brought along with cheese and bread that Perrin bought from Mistress al’Vere at the inn. Afterwards Mat tossed each of them an apple he had acquired somewhat creatively from old Cenn Buie’s trees. Perrin frowned and shook his head as Mat tried to explain it away, but they were crisp and delicious enough that one couldn’t be upset for long.

The daylight hours were getting shorter now that it was mid-autumn. The sun was now making its own way toward the mountains and would likely be behind them in a little over an hour. The trio had just moved off the road and were looking for a suitable place to camp as Rand was sharing what little he could remember of one of the books that Tam had borrowed from Bran al’Vere.

Before darkness fell, they found the camp site they were looking for. A large boulder split down the middle by a gnarled and ancient-looking tree that they had camped beneath the last time they had come this way. Mat and Perrin went to gather wood from nearby while Rand set about clearing a space for a fire and for sleeping. The sky was well into twilight when they finally settled down in front of a crackling campfire; they munched on more of the bread and cheese.

Their talk hadn’t slowed a bit all day. Even Perrin – usually so reserved and soft-spoken – had been talking almost non-stop. Rand smiled to himself thinking that the three of them must sound like chattering children.

“I said _one day_. Not now,” Mat was saying. “It would be a bloody awful idea to climb one of those mountains with winter coming.”

“That’s probably true,” Perrin mused. “Maybe in the spring – or more likely summer.”

Rand’s eyes were shining as he looked westward through the trees and darkness, “I’d wager you can see all the way to the Aryth Ocean from those summits.”

Perrin looked thoughtful, “You think so? Master al’Vere’s map makes it look awfully far.”

“True, but who knows. You might be able to see the bloody Spine of the World from the tallest ones,” Mat exclaimed.

Perrin scoffed, “That’s hardly likely. The Spine is half a world away.”

“Either way,” Mat continued, “I’m sure Emond’s Field would look like a speck from up there.”

Rand and Perrin both grunted their agreement.

For the first time since leaving the farm they fell into a brief silence – all pondering what lay beyond their tiny corner of the world that was their home. The silence grew longer, but not uncomfortable. Their eyes showed that they were all far, far away.

Rand was the first to speak again when he wondered aloud, “How long do you suppose it would take to get to Eldrene’s Veil?”

Mat whistled softly. “The waterfall? _That_ would be an adventure.” Then, more excitedly, “I’ll bet no one in Emond’s Field has ever even been that far from the village, much less seen it.”

“I don’t remember where it was exactly on the map, somewhere north and west of Taren Ferry, I think? Probably at least a week in one direction from Emond’s Field. Light, that would be incredible though. The Veil is straight out of the storybooks.” Perrin sounded wistful now.

Only a bare handful of Emond’s Fielders had been as far as Taren Ferry. Almost no one except for Tam had been _outside_ the Two Rivers, and even then, he hadn’t left since coming back from the Aiel War – before any of their earliest memories.

Mat nodded definitively, “Alright, that settles it. Eldrene’s Veil will be the next chapter in our adventure. After the spring thaw is done, we go.”

Resounding agreement echoed from the other two.

“And after that, we scale the Mountains of Mist,” he proclaimed.

“That will be a much harder sell to our folks,” laughed Rand, “but let’s do it!”

He paused briefly, “After that, all that’s left is outside the Two Rivers. I want to see Caemlyn one day.”

“The Andoran capital,” Perrin mused. “Do you think we’d see the Queen?”

Mat shook his head, “I doubt it. Those noble types are always too far up their own asses to give three bumpkins from the Two Rivers the time of bloody day.”

He looked thoughtful for a moment, then continued: “I want to see the ocean one day. Maybe Illian and the Sea of Storms.”

Perrin chimed in, “Or the Aryth Ocean. They say Artur Hawkwing took his armies across the Aryth Ocean and never came back.”

“Maybe we’ll see what’s beyond it one day then. There and back again, like even Hawkwing himself couldn’t do,” Mat said with an ironic flourish.

The three of them laughed.

They kept the fire burning as their talk continued late into the night. They talked about the Age of Legends, the Breaking of the World, and the wonders left from more interesting times. Their dreaming became even more grandiose – even more impossible. Seeing the lands across the Aryth Ocean, or the Sea Folk Isles on the Sea of Storms. The great cities of Illian, Tear, and Cairhien were next on the list after Caemlyn. Seeing the Spine of the World would be incredible, but they all agreed that the Waste on the other side was probably best avoided. Beyond the Waste though, there was the mysterious land of Shara – _that_ had to be worth seeing.

They did eventually let the fire die. After stamping out the embers and scattering the ashes they finished the last of the tea they had made and prepared for sleep. Rand lay on his back, hands behind his head, watching the small patches of sky visible through the canopy of the West Wood. The closer they got to the mountains the more spectacular the night sky got. It was darker at the farm he lived on than in Emond’s Field, but the stars were still never as brilliant as he recalled them being from the Sand Hills. With the coolness of autumn in the air it would have been almost perfect, except for the bright quarter moon hanging over them. It was unfortunate, but a necessary price to pay – a wise man did not travel on a moonless night.

The moonlight outlined the shapes of his friends turned to face away from him. Their quiet steady breaths told Rand that they had already drifted off. His eyes were heavy, and he let them close. The light rustling of the autumn leaves in the breeze carried him the rest of the way towards sleep.

Their sleeping dreams couldn’t match their waking ones. They had named more places – more possible adventures – than any one person could see in a lifetime. Of course, it was all just fantasy: The three of them knew that, however big they dreamed, they would never venture far beyond the Two Rivers.


End file.
